Consequences
by rubydesires
Summary: When a con goes bad, William and Emily find themselves with a new life: an afterlife. MY Beetlejuice death story.


**AN:** Wow, I didn't expect to finish this so soon. Anyway, I feel as if I need to defend it. Yeah, I know there is no possible way for Tim Burton's Beetlejuice to die this way, but since this story goes into the universe _I_ created for Beetlejuice, he's gonna die the way _I_ tell him to. These stories we write? They're all ours. Sure, Beetlejuice doesn't belong to me, but the situations I put him in do. Isn't that the _point_ of fanfics? Okay, now that I got that out of my system . . . Beetlejuice and Juno do not belong to me. Everyone else does. I guess William does kinda sorta, too. Maybe. Possibly. Yeah . . . moving on.

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Perhaps the gods had gotten tired of William's antics. Perhaps the Fae had been displeased with Emily's offerings. The reasons didn't matter. The results were the same. Things had gone wrong, and now they were dead.

It had been a simple con, one they had performed many times. William would choose some rich, single gentleman, and offer his younger "sister" for marriage. Emily would then find her betrothed's most valuable object, and steal it. Then the partners run.

It was easy. Maybe that's why it failed.

"Emily, I would like to get this done today. Beat the _petty_ thieves to the road," William told the younger woman. She was his junior by eleven years at the age of twenty four. They had been partners since she was fifteen, having left home, escaping a marriage to a man she hated. When they had met, she had no skills other than those of an "accomplished woman". But she was a quick learner, and it didn't take her long to be able to con as well as he.

Emily examined her nails as she replied. "He has a little music box that was given to him by his mother. It should fetch us a pretty coin or two." Her jade green eyes met his almost unnatural green ones. "I can get it if you keep him occupied.

William ran his hand through his messy, pale blond hair. Keep him occupied? "I suppose we could find something to talk about."

Brushing off the front of her dress, Emily nodded her agreement. After making sure her hair was still up in a braid, she entered the house through the kitchen. She took her time getting to Lord Blackthorn's study.

William waited a few minutes before entering through the kitchen as well. The room was huge, and he was certain Blackthorn had something more valuable than a _music box_, given the manor was enormous. However, he was willing to settle for the trinket since he wanted this con to be over. True, the last outbreak from the Black Death had been over for a few months now, but the English people were still reeling from the disease. Petty thieves, who had lost everything, made the roads dangerous. William wanted to leave. He wanted to leave, _now_. But he wasn't about to drop everything.

After a quick search, William found Blackthorn in his library. "Mornin', brother," he greeted the lord with a grin.

"Ah, good morning, Jacob." Blackthorn paused. "We won't be brothers for another four days."

William simply shrugged. "Doesn't matter really. Besides, it's about time my dear sister got married."

Blackthorn laughed. "Amelia certainly is a fine woman. Why did it take her this long anyway?"

"Dear Amelia, I suppose, is too fine," William said with a leer. Yes, they could talk about "Jacob's dear sister, Amelia".

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Emily held her breath as she she pressed her ear to the door of Blackthorn's study. She didn't hear anyone in the room, so she slowly opened to door. As soon as it was wide enough for her to slip though, she did so with one last look down the hall. Once she was in, she gently pushed the door closed behind her. Not checking to make sure the door latched shut, she walked over to the glass cabinet. She opened the cabinet and pulled out the fancy little music box.

"As soon as William sees you, he'll know," she told it as she turned it over in her hands. "He'll know you'll be worth some shiny coins. Then he'll say 'Emily, you've done--'"

The young woman froze as a heavy hand gripped her shoulder. Oh, no.

"I knew we couldn't trust you, _Amelia_." David, Blackthorn's most trusted servant. No. No no no.

Emily screamed as she suddenly found herself over the big man's shoulder, the music box falling to the ground. She kicked as David walked to the library, showing little effort to keep the woman captive.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

William choked as he stopped mid laugh as the servant brought in the still struggling Emily. Please, don't tell me she was caught, he thought. He hated when cons went bad. That always meant they had to lay low for a few months, living on scraps.

"These two are thieves, and liars, my lord," David said as he dropped Emily to the ground.

"I trust you have proof, David?" Blackthorn asked coldly.

"This little mink was in your study, stealing your music box."

Then another servant, Richard, entered the room. "I heard these two talking earlier. He was to keep you occupied while she took the box. He said he wanted to leave today."

Blackthorn looked at William and Emily. Neither had said a word. They still couldn't believe she had gotten caught, and the fact they had been spied on.

"I should have known something was amiss. No brother would speak about his sister in such a way. And no woman would be still be unmarried at her age." Blackthorn turned to look out the window. "Throw them in the river. No one makes a fool of me, and lives to tell about it."

Before either could respond, the servants grabbed the pair, and dragged them to the river.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

By the time they had reached the river at the back of Blackthorn's estate, the pair had been bound at the wrists and ankles. Once there, David tied large rocks to their ankles. William was still in shock. This couldn't be happening! Emily had long since quit struggling, and was now limp in David's arms.

"Any last words, _Emily_?" David asked with a sneer.

Emily spat in his face, her one last struggle.

David laughed and tossed her to the center of the river.

William jerked as she disappeared under the surface. Then, without warning, he found the surface of the water closing over his own head.

He watched Emily as she struggled against her bonds to no avail. Her long golden hair had gotten loose of it's braid and it now flowed around her. If she was going to die, she might as well do it beautifully. Finally, she realized they weren't going to get out of this, and their green eyes met.

Emily's lungs were on fire. She wasn't going to last much longer. Why did death have to be so agonizing? The now forever-young woman relaxed, and the last thing she saw in her life was William winking at her. Of course, she thought. That was the first thing he had done when they met.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Juno glared at the still dripping pair. Something about these two just _screamed_ paperwork. She just _knew_ that by the time this decade was over, their files were going to be three inches thick. At least. But as much as she hated it, she had to tell them.

"So," she started. "You two have managed to acquire poltergeist status."

"And that means, what, exactly?" Emily asked as she combed her hip length golden hair with her newly discovered red nails.

"It means you'll have more power than other ghosts."

William hadn't been listening, examining his own now red nails, but the word "power" had caught his interest. "What kind of power?"

"That depends on you. Your personality, and such. You'll need new names." Juno handed them each a list of names. More like jumbled words, actually.

Emily ignored her hair for a moment as she glanced at the names. By the Fae, there were a lot. How was she suppose to pick one? So she just closed her eyes and ran her finger down the columns. She was going to let the name pick her.

The young ghost woman was about a quarter of the way down the third column when she felt _something_. It was like a sparkle, if such a thing could have a feeling.

She opened her eyes and read the name. Nightshade. Emily shuddered as she felt something like someone trailing their finger down her spine. That was it. Her name.

William's oh so green eyes danced amongst the words, barely taking tine to read them . . . wait, what was that one? Beetlejuice? He grinned as he felt his power stir as he read the name. Yes. It was perfect.

"Well? I don't have all day. I _do _have other clients," Juno snapped.

Emily looked up and grinned. "I have mine."

"Me, too."

The old ghost then handed them the official paperwork. "Write your breather names at the top, and sign your 'geist names at the bottom," she said as she took a long pull on her cigarette. "Then get out of my office."

After the two new ghosts signed their names, it felt as if something had finally been unlocked inside them. Power flooded their nerves, and energy hummed in their veins.

Beetlejuice grinned at Nightshade, and she grinned back.

Sure, dying hurt like a bitch. But being dead sure as hell felt damn good.

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**AN:** Okie dokie, my BJ death story, as promised! The next story will be Second Chance, the sequel to Fears. I'm really gonna try for something longer than 3 chapters. I'm gonna shoot for 5 at the least. Now let's see if I can actually do it! Ummm, I don't know how long it will be before it get the first chapter up. I think I might write it a bit different. It'll still be first-person-beetlejuice, but I think I might try to do it a bit differently. Make it more like his head. So I need to become Beetlejuice . . . that's a scary thought. A chick thinking like him? Oh well, I'm already pretty crazy!


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